Computer networks are known to include a plurality of computers and a server. The server typically stores shared software applications and data bases which any of the computers may access via the network. The computers may be of any type, for example, they may be personal computers, work stations, etc. Within such computer networks, each computer may communicate, via a local area network (LAN), with other computers in the network. For example, one computer may send an electronic mail message or a file to any other computer in the network. In addition, the network allows the computers to share software applications, such that only one software application is needed for a plurality of computers.
As is also known, computer networks may be coupled to other computer networks via telephone lines. Over such connections, networks may further share information and utilize such services as bulletin boards and centralized data bases. As technology continues to advance, the networks can share more and more information and are becoming larger and larger. With such growth, it may be difficult to maintain current software within the network due to the frequent occurrence of software and hardware updates. In addition, notwithstanding the availability of office-type combinations of software, such as Microsoft Office, it may be difficult to maintain software in the network that compliments other software in the network due to the frequency at which new software is being made available to the public. For example, if a network contains a drawing software application produced by a vendor and that vendor or another vendor subsequently releases a word processing application that permits drawings from the drawing application to be imported into the word processing application, users of the network must keep a watchful eye on all vendors' software releases in order to determine that the new word processing application exists. If the users inadvertently miss the announcement of the new word processing application, the new application will not be purchased and users of the network may continue to have difficulty creating drawings for use in their word processing-generated reports.
To update software or provide complimenting software to existing computer networks, software must be loaded at the site of the server, where trouble shooting, if needed, is carried out as well. If there are a plurality of communication networks coupled together, each computer network must be serviced independently, thereby requiring a substantial amount of effort and time to update and/or enhance the networks. Alternatively, updates or complimenting software may be transmitted over telephone lines. In this case, a person is not required to be at the site of the server, but each communication network needs to be individually serviced due to the limitations of the public telephone switching network.
In addition to the difficulties in updating software and maintaining complimenting software in computer networks, manufactures of software applications and hardware have a difficult time in obtaining marketing information, such as what software applications are being used, how often they are used, on what types of computers, etc. With this type of marketing information, manufacturers are more efficient in providing updates and/or enhancements of software. However, at present, manufacturers collect such data in a rather static fashion. For example, manufacturers use personal polling, return warranty cards, or sales statistics to acquire marketing information. With these static data collection methods, manufacturers collect only a small portion of the data available which may be weeks or months old by the time it is compiled.
Therefore, a need exists for a method that allows computers and computer networks to easily receive software that compliments software currently contained in the computer or network without requiring computer or network users to continually monitor for new software releases and that allows manufactures to dynamically collect marketing information regarding the structure and services being presently used by the computer networks.